Underdogs Antrim head to Down for Ulster quarter-final with a fighting chance based on last visit to Newry
A win over Down would be a huge endorsement of McEntee’s time in charge and the work they’ve all put in. Photograph: Evan Treacy/InphoHe’s thinking about Mick Lyons and the abuse the grizzled Meath full-back used to take from Dublin fans behind him on Hill 16.
He was involved in enough of them, to some extent. Whether it was his brother, Gerry, lording it at midfield against the old enemy, being part of Meath panels himself, or in more recent years managing Meath minor and senior teams against the Dubs, he has seen it all. “The league game we played last year, it was probably the game of the season,” said McEntee, referencing Down’s onepoint win in Newry. “If you were an outsider looking in at that one, you’d say Gaelic football is in a very healthy place. You wouldn’t say that about the corresponding game up in Corrigan Park this year. It was ugly enough at times but some games take on their own meaning and everybody has plans until they get punched on the nose.
With a particularly young team – “I think we had 12 newcomers to National League football during the course of the campaign” – staying in Division Three was a victory in itself. But the Saffrons have quality too. Big Ruairi McCann from the St Mary’s club won a Tailteann Cup All-Star last year. Marc Jordan wasn’t far off collecting one either while Mick Byrne is their safe hands in goals.
A win over Down would be a huge endorsement of McEntee’s time in charge and the work they’ve all put in. If it doesn’t happen, he’ll continue to embrace the struggle.
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